I got one of these about a month and a half ago and there was some rust on one panel. I stripped it, put some rustoleum primer and flat white, so one panel is lighter than the rest. Who cares, it's in the back and the only people that can see it are on the street behind me. It was shipped in about a week to California, I live above LA in the desert and rust isn't a big concern for me. I have to agree that it is a light dish and the odd size mount makes it a little difficult to mount it.
I used 2" rigid conduit, one 10' length and one 7' length coupled till they bottomed then drilled a 3/8" hole through each side and bolted it through. I did the same thing with a pvc coupling spacer (I took it to work and machined it out on an engine lathe) around the top of the pole but once I found true south, I bolted the mount completely through the pole, if it moves the entire pole has to move. I should have just gotten some of the nylon stock we have and machined one exactly, but I figured it to be a waste of material I might need later. The pole is in concrete at the edge of the patio, approx 2' deep, then rigid pipe strapped to the 6"X8" support for the patio in five places with two 5/16"X6" lag bolts and curved washers through the pole into the support just for extra measure.
I was pretty surprised that the pole was almost exactly plumb with being sectioned, it had about a 1/2 degree to one side until I put three 3/16" guide wires up and tighted up the sides to straighten it exactly plumb, since it is about 6' above the patio, it catches a lot of wind (wind is from 20-40 mph daily) so the guide wires were a must anyway. I will need to add two more higher up closer to the mount, the back side would interfere with the motor, so I lowered all three the first time around. We've had some gusts up to 60 mph since I put it up and it moved it slightly off to the east that day, usual direction of the wind. but just tweak it back and everything was fine.
I've been able to tune in from 82W to 139W so I know I'm tracking pretty closly to the arc. Just trying to get my older GI boxes to work, I think they are toast anyway. I've got a Nfusion HD downstairs and a Kbox Prodigy upstairs that both pull in pretty good FTA signals. I'm trying to catch an Openbox S10 on fleabay currently so I can get the S2, the nfusion is useless for it, even though it says it can and it has the module installed, I know, I know, pirates only crap. But I only use it for FTA. I get my locals on a huge OTA (120").
Overall the assembly instructions suck and are totally useless, but being a manufacturing engineer, I devised my own assembly method. I was thinking about writing up some with some sketchs for other people when I get some time. The dish works good and I use a DMX741 C/KU with it. Right now I have an old traxis mover on it with a V-box positioner. I have a spare mover that I'm cleaning up that a friend gave me. It's a newer model and in good shape except for the mounting bushings, they are way loose and I'll replace them with some aerospace models I have a work I think will work.
I used 2" rigid conduit, one 10' length and one 7' length coupled till they bottomed then drilled a 3/8" hole through each side and bolted it through. I did the same thing with a pvc coupling spacer (I took it to work and machined it out on an engine lathe) around the top of the pole but once I found true south, I bolted the mount completely through the pole, if it moves the entire pole has to move. I should have just gotten some of the nylon stock we have and machined one exactly, but I figured it to be a waste of material I might need later. The pole is in concrete at the edge of the patio, approx 2' deep, then rigid pipe strapped to the 6"X8" support for the patio in five places with two 5/16"X6" lag bolts and curved washers through the pole into the support just for extra measure.
I was pretty surprised that the pole was almost exactly plumb with being sectioned, it had about a 1/2 degree to one side until I put three 3/16" guide wires up and tighted up the sides to straighten it exactly plumb, since it is about 6' above the patio, it catches a lot of wind (wind is from 20-40 mph daily) so the guide wires were a must anyway. I will need to add two more higher up closer to the mount, the back side would interfere with the motor, so I lowered all three the first time around. We've had some gusts up to 60 mph since I put it up and it moved it slightly off to the east that day, usual direction of the wind. but just tweak it back and everything was fine.
I've been able to tune in from 82W to 139W so I know I'm tracking pretty closly to the arc. Just trying to get my older GI boxes to work, I think they are toast anyway. I've got a Nfusion HD downstairs and a Kbox Prodigy upstairs that both pull in pretty good FTA signals. I'm trying to catch an Openbox S10 on fleabay currently so I can get the S2, the nfusion is useless for it, even though it says it can and it has the module installed, I know, I know, pirates only crap. But I only use it for FTA. I get my locals on a huge OTA (120").
Overall the assembly instructions suck and are totally useless, but being a manufacturing engineer, I devised my own assembly method. I was thinking about writing up some with some sketchs for other people when I get some time. The dish works good and I use a DMX741 C/KU with it. Right now I have an old traxis mover on it with a V-box positioner. I have a spare mover that I'm cleaning up that a friend gave me. It's a newer model and in good shape except for the mounting bushings, they are way loose and I'll replace them with some aerospace models I have a work I think will work.
